


Let Us Too Surrender

by VerdiWithin



Series: Talisman [43]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Betrayal, Controlling Parent, F/M, Family Drama, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Rebellion, Rise of the Dread Queen, Slut Shaming, Threatened Mass Murder, Treachery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:15:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23426839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerdiWithin/pseuds/VerdiWithin
Summary: Persephone has an unexpected encounter.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Series: Talisman [43]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1497371
Comments: 65
Kudos: 287





	Let Us Too Surrender

**Author's Note:**

> Previously in this series: 
> 
> Kronos was freed from his chains in Tartarus by Thanatos, who subsequently escaped. Hades defeated his father, with Persephone’s help, and was severely injured. Demeter discovered Persephone and Hades in bed together and later sent a letter to Persephone accusing Hades of sexual coercion, and promising to rescue Persephone. Hades is planning to propose to Persephone.

I drive to Olympus, enjoying the warm morning light, even though I had to put on my sunglasses as soon as I crossed the border. I wonder if my eyes are adjusting to the Underworld. I guess I understand now why Hades is so attached to his pair--maybe it isn’t just for looks.

I feel a happy quiver, thinking about him. He’s planning a special dinner for us tonight, and won’t tell me any details. All I really want to know is how fancy I should dress, but when I asked he made a smug face and wouldn’t give a firm answer. “You always look spectacular, little goddess,” he said.

I’m tempted to wear sweats just to prove him wrong, but the joke would only be funny for a minute. In truth, I don’t want to do anything to mess things up. Tonight marks six months since we re-met in the pool room. I’ve been aware all week of Hades’s preoccupation with planning this, and I think it’s going to be something extraordinary. I have hopes for what that will mean, but I don’t dare to dwell on them.

I park the car and check the time. I’m planning to meet Psyche for lunch, to discuss her wedding plans and what I can do to help, but I left early to give myself time for some shopping. I mean to pick up a pair of shoes for tonight, ones I picked out online. I think Hades will really like them.

I also want to get him a gift. He’s given me so much, it’s only right that I should give something back. It’s taken a lot of research and thought to figure out what, but I think I came up with something he’ll like.

***

I come out of the stationery store, smiling with satisfaction. I just purchased a top of the line fountain pen, guaranteed to be "a source of great writing pleasure for the discerning connoisseur." I shake my head a little over the pretentiousness of the store employees, but I got exactly what I wanted. I tuck the box away in my purse. I can’t wait to give it to Hades. It’s so difficult to figure out a gift for a very wealthy man, but I really think he'll like this.

I already picked up my shoes for tonight, and I still have half an hour before I’m meeting Psyche. I stroll down the main shopping street of Olympus, looking into the windows. These are pretty fancy stores, rivaling the best the Underworld has to offer. I stand outside one, gazing at their selection of dresses on display, contemplating whether I should go in.

I'm just deciding not to bother when a voice speaks behind me. "What a lovely surprise to see you here, sweetheart!"

I freeze, feeling like my guts are seized in huge claws. I close my eyes for just a second of self-indulgent denial. Then I take a deep breath and turn.

"Hello, Mother."

"My sweet angel! How well you look!"

She's speaking as if nothing has happened between us, and all is normal. Just as she did when I was a child. However, she makes no move to touch me, and that is rather out of character.

"It's a lovely day for a walk, isn't it?" she says brightly. 

I'm not buying her act for a second--there's no way this is a chance encounter. Still, if I play along I might learn something.

"Yes, it is." I'm not doing a great job of projecting warmth. I just feel stiff and frightened.

"Or perhaps we could sit down for a nice cup of tea?"

"If you like." 

Mama turns with a gracious gesture, and I notice a pair of nymphs behind her, keeping a few paces back. They trail after us as we walk down the sidewalk.

The silence stretches for long awkward moments before my mother speaks. "Do you get to visit Olympus often?"

"Not very often." More than I really need, though.

"Hm. Well, why don't we go into that shop?"

She’s pointing at a bright, active café that I've visited before. "All right."

We sit down together at a table in the window and I place my purse and shopping bag on the bench next to me.

"Alcyone, would you please bring us some tea?" Mother asks.

"Yes, my lady," the nymph replies.

We watch each other silently while we wait for the tea. Mother puts on a front of cheerful interest, and I try my best to project a cordial attitude as well, but I’m too tense. When the nymph sets down a pot of tea and some cups, Mama thanks her, and starts to pour.

I watch this process with wariness. It feels too smooth, too practiced. This whole encounter has the feel of a setup. I feel a certain nauseated triumph realizing that, and at the same time, a stab of terrible guilt. How can I think such things about my own mother? My mother, who so misinterprets my situation that she’s accusing Hades of coercing me. My dear, kind, protective mother, who may have supplied Thetis and Thanatos with herbs used to upset the power structures of Olympus and the Underworld. My mother, who has lied to me and manipulated me, all in the name of protecting me from the dangers of the world.

I look at the cup in front of me. I think I know what it is. I hope I’m wrong. Shouldn't I be able to trust my own mother? I take the leap of faith. I will test her, with my own body as the proving ground. I pick up my cup and gulp down the tea. The flavor of ergot and oleander is sharp and bitter; it tastes like betrayal. 

She nods grimly upon seeing me consume the tea. "Good girl. I knew some part of you would still be sensible."

"More like, some optimistic part of me still believes that there are boundaries you wouldn't cross. The more fool me."

Her lips purse in displeasure. “Make no attempt to summon any of your friends. Do as I say and all will be well."

I struggle against her instructions, to no avail. I find I'm unable to frame the words or the willpower to summon any of the people who I know how to summon. I think about my phone in my purse. Perhaps I can distract her?

Mother takes a sheet of paper and a pen from one of the nymphs. "Write a note to your lover. Tell him you're through with him."

"No!" I gasp, pulling back.

" _ Do it,  _ child. No backtalk!"

I find myself picking up the pen, completely without volition. I start to write as instructed, powerless to stop myself. I try to resist, but it's pointless. The best I can do is to add a little bit extra. Mother watches me complete the note, and nods in satisfaction. 

"Good. Come with me and don’t speak until I give you permission.”

***

Out on the street, Mother takes my arm and beckons the nymphs to come to her. She pulls all four of us through the Narrow Spaces. My head is spinning from the tea, but I focus as well as I can, to try to discern where we’re going. It’s somewhere in the Mortal Realm, I can tell that much.

We emerge in an unfamiliar place, outdoors in the sunshine, at the edge of a field. There are mountain ranges around us, but that doesn’t help me to pinpoint the location. It doesn’t smell like Sicily.

“Go and tell the others we’re back,” Mother orders the nymphs. “I’ll meet with them shortly.”

The nymphs walk away, out of sight under some trees. I wonder where they’re going. Mother leads me to a stump and gestures for me to sit down.

“You can speak now, but stay put,” she says.

“And what do you want me to say?” I’m just trying out my voice, to make sure it still works properly. I’ve been thinking about whether there’s any loophole in her orders to me. She said I wasn’t to summon any of my friends. I know how to summon Cerberus, and the Furies, but all of them are my friends. 

I know how to summon Hades. I wish I could convince myself that being lovers means we’re not friends, but I can’t. He was a friend before he was anything else to me. That hasn’t stopped just because we’re something more now. I love the picture of summoning him here, of watching him rage at my mother. I cling to that image even while I try to think of more things I can do to help myself. 

Mama is pacing back and forth in front of me, her arms folded, her anger building. “I am so devastated by these recent events, Kore. I’m ashamed of myself. I let you go your own way, and look at what happened!” 

Her calling me  _ Kore _ twists my gut with fury, but I suppress my reaction. “Yes, look what happened. I had no context for understanding how to cope with other people, particularly men, and I made mistakes. Mistakes which I fixed, and learned from.”

Mama shakes her head, looking concerned. “It’s long past time we had a frank talk about men and sex, sweetheart.”

I hold onto my bravado, and nod, not letting myself look away. “All right, Mama. I think you’re right that it’s necessary. What do you want to know?”

She makes a sharp gesture of irritation. “I suppose that Eros shot you with an arrow. Did Hades put him up to it?”

“No. I fell in love with Hades of my own free will.”

She scowls, but goes on, undeterred. “I know you think you’ve made your own choices. That Hades cares for you. But darling, don’t you see? He only wants sex. He won’t marry you.”

I think about my mother’s history with Poseidon, which is certainly on her mind just now. What she describes is exactly what happened to her. She had an affair with a king, and he didn’t want anything more serious. She had to suffer the consequences on her own, and she’s struggled all this time to keep it a secret.

I think about the question Hades asked me, last year when we first met. I can’t tell my mother that. She’ll point out the shortcomings of such a proposal, the ones that I see, too. She’ll say that if he meant it, he’d ask again. I could tell her all the things he’s done for me: asking me to move in, the jewelry, the planned changes to the house, treating me like a partner and an equal, tonight’s dinner. Being willing to sacrifice his life, so that I might be spared!

It wouldn’t matter, though. She would find a way to dismiss all my evidence, throw it away with a sweep of her hand. She is very good at believing what she wants to believe. The only course available to me is boldness.

“I don’t  _ need _ him to marry me. He loves me, and I love him. That’s enough.”

“You foolish, naive girl! What do you think will happen when he gets tired of you? He’ll throw you away, like a used tissue, like garbage. You will have nothing left to you but a soiled reputation!”

Somehow I manage to stay calm. “I know that’s how it happened for you, but at least _ I  _ had the sense not to get involved with a married man.”

My mother staggers back, wide-eyed, hissing. “What? How do you know--”

“Know that you have a child with my lover’s brother? It’s funny how these things come up in conversation.”

She shakes her head, trying to deny what I’m saying. “You don’t understand--”

“You’re right I don’t understand! How could you keep from me that I have a brother? How could you deprive Arion and me of a relationship? I feel like I don’t even know you anymore!”

“Is this what you went to Olympus to learn, child? Disrespect for your elders? Contempt for your mother’s love and concern?”

“No, Mama. I went to Olympus to learn how to be myself. And so I did.”

Mother’s face is cold and angry, closed. “You have  _ chosen, _ so I have heard. And what you have chosen is to subject yourself to a man. Well, I won’t accept it! The prophecy said thrice-chosen, thrice-choosing. It’s not done yet. So choose again. Choose, and be my daughter!”

I take a sharp breath. Who could have told her about the prophecy? Who, among the very limited circle of people who knows what Gaia said to me, would speak to my mother so frankly? 

The answer comes to me, sharp and clear and sure. It has to be Hera. I remember her taking my mother away from Eros and Psyche’s house, that awful morning. I asked Hera later what was said, and received only the vaguest of answers. So why did Hera tell her, I wonder?

I take a slow breath, calming myself. "I don't think it works like that. But no matter what, Mama, I'll always be your daughter. I love you. Please don't make me choose between people I love."

"Sometimes life is like that, child. You were born to life and light, to flowers and green growing things. You aren't meant to be buried alive in a dark pit, subservient to a perverted monster!"

I push down my rage. "And what do you suppose will happen now? Do you really think you can steal me away and no one will come looking for me?"

She shakes her head. "There's a reason I have left you to suffer alone for so long, child. I'm so deeply sorry for that! I needed to have everything in place so I could  _ get _ you free and  _ keep _ you free. I have wonderful news, sweetheart! Today is the first day of a new era!"

Oh, dear. This sounds ominous. “What do you mean, Mama?” I ask carefully, trying to look more interested than horrified.

“We are going to throw down the entire male-centered power structure,” Mother says, smiling in satisfaction. “Zeus and all his disgusting cronies are over. We’re going to have a totally new way of doing things: a feminarchy!”

I nod, fascinated. “How will that work?”

“Gods crave worship from mortals. Without it, they become untethered. Less focused and capable. Well, I’m going to prove that I can control the fundamentals of that cycle: mortals’ food supply.”

Of course, this is completely true. My mother’s domain as Goddess of the Harvest means she rules agricultural production for the mortals, and this directly affects the mortals’ ability and desire to worship. I think through the implications of what she’s saying. “But, Mama… in order to prove that you control the mortal population… wouldn’t you have to threaten to destroy them?”

“Yes, indeed, darling. Well done! I know how much you empathize with them, and this will be very hard for you. But it’s necessary, in order to make the world a better place.”

“How will killing people make the world a better place?” I demand.

“Not to worry! I thought of that. Anyone who dies, you can just bring them back, can’t you?”

I’m so stunned with horror that I don’t know what to say. I shake my head, holding my hands to my cheeks. ”That doesn’t make it right,” I whisper.

“Listen, sweetheart. It won’t be that bad. What I’m going to do will make conditions very hard for mortals, and there will be suffering, but the ones who are faithful--I have grain stored up. I will take care of them, and it will help cement their loyalty.”

“And the ones who aren’t your worshippers, what about them? They deserve to die, for worshipping someone else?”

“I know it sounds heartless. But just think of the good we can do once we’re in charge. Once Zeus and his network of selfish, power-hungry male gods are out of the way, we’ll install a new mode of worship, with you and me at the top.”

“What kind of worship?”

Mother sighs, shaking her head. “My idea was that the two of us would be worshipped as a duality. That might need some tweaking now, but I think we can make it work.”

I know exactly what she means. It’s a necessary corollary to all her behavior to date. “The mother and the maiden, I see. It’s a pretty picture, but isn’t a  _ triple _ goddess the traditional mode? Shouldn’t it be the  _ crone _ , the mother, and the child? I guess you didn’t like your role in that particular triarchy.”

Mother waves this aside. “How could you disobey me, child? Your part was simple. All you had to do was stay a virgin!”

“Please, Mother. If your plan relied on someone never having sex, maybe you shouldn’t have picked a fertility goddess.”

“Stop saying that like it means something! You make plants grow, so what? It doesn’t mean you’re destined to be some man’s whore!”

“I’d  _ far _ rather be Hades’s whore than your permanent neophyte!”

“How can you say that to me? I’ve sacrificed everything for you!”

I’m so frustrated I could tear out my own hair. “I don’t  _ want _ your sacrifices. All I want is to make my own decisions, and be treated like an equal!”

Her eyes narrow dangerously. “Like an equal. I see. And you think some man will actually treat you that way, when he’s tired of being charming? You think you’re more than a pawn in his game? You think he actually gives a damn for you and your decisions?”

I blink at her, finally understanding. We’re not speaking the same language. We live in different worlds. My heart swells with pity for my poor mother. She grew up in a harsh world where she had to fight for everything she gained, and hardly anyone has ever helped her, or stayed faithful to her. It’s no wonder she’s so bitter, and sees my point of view as recklessly naive. She has no basis for understanding what Hades and I have built together.

***

I follow my mother through a stand of trees to another clearing where a small cluster of buildings stand. They seem to be an old-fashioned style and in great need of repairs. There are a number of people moving around, talking in small groups, working together. One group is working to prepare a meal around a fire, another is supervising a bunch of children. Most of the people I see are nymphs.

“Sit down here, darling. I’ll be right back,” Mother says. 

She indicates a toppled column lying in the grass, out on the periphery of activity, so I sit on it. I fold my hands and compose myself to wait and watch. I wonder how long the herbs I took are going to work on suppressing my will. I’m still considering what options I might have to defend myself, but I don’t want to try anything yet. I’m not in any danger, and I want to learn as much as I can before I attempt to escape.

By now, I’m late for lunch. I’m sure Psyche is concerned. She’ll probably call Hades right away. It gives me a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that he’s looking for me. There is no way he will stop before he finds me. I don’t like my current situation a bit, but the sure sense that I can rely on other people to help me is doing wonders for my confidence.

Mother returns from one of the buildings, with two people in tow: Minthe and Thanatos. Across the clearing, I spot others of the Vathia conspirators, including Triamus and Avin. There’s another group with them, figures that I recognize as shades. I suppose Thanatos has had a few days to collect mortal shades, and I haven’t been paying the best attention this week to our intake numbers. I shake my head in wonder. His plan didn’t work the first time, and now he wants to try it again?

I do my best to quell my rage and control my expression. I don’t want to give anything away to these people. 

Mama smiles down at me. “There, you see, darling? My plan has many parts. These people will be assisting with one branch of it. They did a terrible job trying to organize a rebellion on their own, but I have confidence that with my guidance they can succeed with round two.” She adds this, glaring directly at Thanatos, intending him to be mortified.

He just looks resentful of her, and gloating toward me.

"Oh, I see. These faithless turncoats are the kind of people you choose to work with, Mother? Was setting Kronos free part of your plan?"

“What are you talking about, daughter? Of course not!”

“Well then, it’s important for you to know that your co-conspirators have their own agenda, and they’re willing to unleash a Titan to get it.”

Mother turns to look suspiciously at Thanatos. “Is this true?”

He looks panicky. “I don’t know what she’s talking about. Triamus broke me out of Tartarus, and we had to open a few cells to cause a diversion, but that’s it.”

“Is there no lie you won’t sink to?” I ask. “You broke Kronos’s chains. You intended to set him free from Tartarus, to wreak havoc on the Underworld.”

“You think you know it all, Miss Perfect?” Minthe yells.

“Watch your tongue, nymph!” My mother snaps. “You are here on sufferance, at Thanatos’s request. I have little use for you, myself.”

The dynamics here are very interesting. Clearly, they’re not operating as a cohesive unit. Minthe folds her arms and retreats in a pout, a little distance from the rest of us.

I take a slow breath and continue. “I was there. In Tartarus. I saw this with my own eyes.”

There’s dead silence for a long moment. “That… irresponsible maniac!” Mama shrieks. “How dare he take  _ my baby _ to that awful place!”

“I think you’re missing the point,” I say. “They deliberately set a Titan free, Mother. They are not people you can trust.”

A nymph runs up to our group, and waves to get Mother’s attention. “Excuse me, Lady, but you’re needed to speak to some of the suppliers about the last of the grain harvest?”

Mother sighs. “I am coming. Daughter, stay put.”

We all watch my mother retreat, then eye one another. There’s a distinct sense of the gloves coming off, now that the elder goddess is out of the way. 

“So…  _ Persephone, _ ” says Minthe. “How’s it feel to be back in your mommy’s clutches? Hm? Back in the good old Mortal Realm, where nothing ever happens? Where there’s no one to fall for your goody-two-shoes routine?”

I smile, shaking my head. “I won’t be here for long, I assure you.”

“Oh, you think so? You think Hades is going to drop everything, and come running after you? He’s not as loyal as you think he is! You’ll find out for yourself one day just how limited his ability to care about other people really is.”

It’s quite amazing how little she understands him. I don’t know her very well at all, but it seems to me she’s projecting her own emotional constraints onto Hades. “Certainly his ability to care about  _ you _ was limited. Was that really because of him, though, or because of you?”

“He was going to propose to me!” she snarls. “The night he met you. Did you know that, you snotty little bitch?”

“He  _ did _ propose to me, the night he met me,” I say. I raise my eyebrow at her outraged expression.

“You’re lying! Why would he agree to take me back, then?”

I smile. I know the answer, but I won’t explain. Let her wonder, and choke on it. “Apparently you don’t know everything.” 

She throws up her arms in frustration, and retreats a dozen paces or so. She picks up a book that someone left behind and begins to pretend to be absorbed in it. I turn away from her, dismissing her petty concerns. I look at Thanatos. He’s pacing nearby, hands in his hair, muttering to himself. He’s upset. Good. He deserves it.

“How could you do this?” I say to him, low-voiced. “Your daughter is devastated. She doesn’t know what to think about you. Your brother kept trying to convince Hades that you must have had some good motive, but he couldn’t find any evidence. Because there isn’t any, is there? You’re just a selfish monster.”

Thanatos stares at me, wild-eyed. He’s even paler than normal, and his wings are fluttering with nervous agitation. “Shut up, you stupid princess!” he snaps. “What do you know about good motives, or hard work, or struggling against oppression?”

I feel nothing but contempt for him. Not even pity is left. The corner of my mouth lifts, expressing my silent disgust. “No. You can lie to yourself all you want, but I’m not having it. Nothing you’ve done has been about ‘struggling against oppression.’ It was all about you. Showing off for that one,” I wave a dismissive hand at Minthe, “and making yourself king. It was greed from the beginning.”

“Who do you think you are, dispensing judgments?” the God of Death snarls. “Just because you’ve got privilege and wealth and connections doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like that!”

I feel my lips curving. A certainty is growing in me, a glow of righteousness that crowds out all other feelings. This man thinks he’s dealing with the spoiled child of a decadent dynasty, a whiny brat who throws tantrums until she gets her way. He has no idea what I’ve become while he was locked away. 

I struggle to unbend my knees. The force of my mother’s orders is strong, so I focus my mind, redefining them. She said to sit, and I did that. She said to stay put. She didn’t say to  _ stay  _ seated. Slowly I rise to my feet. My full height is nothing much, but still, Thanatos takes a step or two back, looking wary.

“You are the lowest creature I’ve ever met,” I hiss. “You let greed and jealousy rule your actions. You never consider the privilege you yourself have, but you’re delighted to whine about it because others have achieved something you haven’t. Did you ever consider that perhaps I earned the position I've gained? Did you ever consider that you’re low in the pecking order for a reason?”

I blink rapidly; something is odd about my vision. There’s a weird glow around the beings I see around me. The nymphs around us give off a soft, diffuse light, but Thanatos is very different. A powerful energy is centered in his chest, pulsing rhythmically, calling to me.

It takes an effort to focus on his words. He’s furious, but trying hard to keep his voice under control. “...some kind of stupid kid from the Mortal Realm? Really? Because that’s all you are! You think I haven’t seen your type come and go a thousand times over the centuries? Because I have! You’re  _ nothing. _ I’ll outlast you, just as I’ve outlasted all the others. You’re nothing but a concubine with delusions of grandeur!”

I feel my face tighten in a manic grin. I reach out with my power, lightly grip the energy in Thanatos’s chest. “Is that so, God of Death?”

“Yes, it is, you empty-headed little moron! Get it through your skull, without others to prop you up, you’re just a bimbo!”

“Did you ever stop to think about the meaning of my new name?” I ask, using a light, conversational tone.

Thanatos is nonplussed by my change of topic and attitude. He scowls and tilts his head, while I take the time to coil my power tightly around his inner wellspring. 

“‘Bringer of Death’?” he sneers. “What about it? You think that actually means something?”

I smile even wider. “That is one translation. It could just as well mean ‘Taker of Death,’ though. Or even ‘Carrier of Death.’”

“Well, gosh,  _ thanks _ for the linguistics lesson, that really makes my day complete. Any chance you’ve got a point?”

“I’m glad you asked. I do, in fact, have a point, and it is this.” 

I clamp down on his power, the seat of his godhead. I dig in sharp claws of my own power, tearing and twisting. He screams, writhing and crumpling to the ground. 

Minthe drops her book and bolts to him, grabbing his shoulder. “Thanatos, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”

He shrieks wordlessly, the tendons in his necks and wrists standing out starkly, his wings flapping helplessly. I bite down hard, tearing away his power. It struggles in my grip like a live thing. 

“What are you doing to him, you freak?” Minthe screams, stomping over to me, her nails ready to shred me. 

I spare a trickle of power from subduing Thanatos’s stolen godhead, and generate a vine, twisting around the nymph’s feet, all the way to her knees. She halts, tugging, screaming more insults about my faults. The former God of Death wails from the ground, his wings flopping over his back, a useless burden. He covers his face and screams inarticulate things into the ground. 

I croon to the newly-acquired power I hold in my grasp. It’s different from my native abilities, and yet, related. As it calms and settles, it wraps itself around my right forearm, integrating itself like a seal fitting into its matrix. I take a deep breath and let my triumph show in my smile. 

My mother is emerging from the farthest building, striding towards us, an exasperated expression on her face. "What is going on here? What are you people screaming about?” she demands, in a commanding voice.

“Your bitch daughter did this! She did something to Thanatos!” Minthe shrieks.

Mother looks carefully over this scene, analyzing each player. The screaming, furious river nymph wrapped up in my vines; the collapsed, moaning god; the onlooking, wide-eyed nymphs. I don’t know what she sees in me, but her shoulders slump and she speaks with a note of defeat in her voice. “What have you done, child?"

I shrug. “I did what I had to do.”

Minthe is still screaming, struggling against my vines. "You bitch! You selfish bitch, can't you leave me with anything? What have you done to him, you horrible spoiled brat?" 

Mother turns, sharp and angry. Her voice booms with terrible omen. “I told you before to be quiet, nymph! Others may have condoned your effrontery before now, but I am not so tolerant!” 

I feel the sharp lash of Mama’s power as she grabs Minthe with it. The energy of transformation surrounds the red nymph, and she gives one last complaining scream as her body flows and morphs, sinking tendrils deep into the soil. In a few moments, nothing is left of her but a green shrub, spread over a wide area. The new plant has serrated, oval leaves arranged in around a stalk in opposing pairs. A strong, cool scent rises from the herb patch.

I sigh deeply as my mother dusts her hands and turns to face her gaping followers. “All of you, back to your tasks! This is none of your concern.”

Thanatos manages to lift his head from the ground to look for his companion. He moans and sobs, unable to speak, his voice gone along with his power and strength. He crawls forward, extending his weak, shaking hands to touch the new plant. His broken wings trail behind him in the dust. 

My new power coils within me, the ability to take life. It feels familiar, and yet not. Intrinsic to the power to bring new life was the ability to sweep away the old. My native power meshes with the new, allowing me to control it easily. I feel through Thanatos’s connection to the group of shades he collected, and set them loose to wreak havoc. 

Mother’s head whips around to the sound of her followers’ cries of fear. She stands in the center of the clearing, shaking her head in denial, shocked by how quickly things are falling apart. The shades tear through the compound: menacing nymphs, ripping into the flimsy buildings, breaking personal items. “What is happening?” Mama screams.

I reach deep into the ground and pull vines, the biggest ones I can manage, and send them under the foundations of the buildings. They erupt from the Earth, causing roofs to collapse and walls to topple. Within a minute or two, not a building remains standing. Dust floats in the air, and screams and sobs disrupt the peace.

“How?” Mama asks, bewildered. She turns in a slow circle, surveying everything, until finally her eyes fall on me. “You?” she gasps. “ _ You _ did this?”

I stand before my mother, the great goddess Demeter, and laugh. “Yes, Mother. I did this. Why are you so surprised? I am  _ your _ daughter, and my wrath is terrible.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As always, Beta work by Red.


End file.
